Baneling/Development
The baneling underwent considerable development in StarCraft II. Banelings were conceived as a replacement for the infested terran. The problem with infested terrans in the original game was that acquiring unit required a lot of time, energy, a terran opponent, and even then, had to make it into closer quarters with the enemy to justify its cost. While the developers liked the idea of a zerg suicide explosive unit, they wanted one that would deal more area damage and be easier to produce in the early game.2018-04-03, EVOLUTION COMPLETE: REIMAGINING CLASSIC STARCRAFT UNITS FOR STARCRAFT II. Blizzard Entertainment, accessed on 2018-03-07 As of April 2008, banelings have been increased in size from previous builds to make it easier to focus fire on them. In addition their splash radius was increased. The supply cost was higher.One of the reasons the size of the Banelings were increased from the size in the original Protoss Release Video was to make it plausible to defend against it. Before, if you have a group of Banelings attack with Zerglings, it was near impossible to focus fire on the Banelings. In the current build, their size, splash damage distribution, and hit points have been increased. These changes still make them potent, yet still allow the possibility of defense with superior micromanagement. The final size of the Banelings still may change, but this is the current design they are testing. Karune. 2008-04-14. Baneling model - too large. Battle.net StarCraft II General Discussion Forums. Accessed 2008-04-14. Banelings were designed to punish opponents foolish or careless enough to leave their forces clustered in large bunches—prime targets to receive the most damage from a bunch of exploding bugs. The developers expected players to struggle with spacing out their units against banelings. Terran players got better and spreading out their forces to minimize baneling damage. In response, zerg players got better at maximizing their creep spread, using it as a speed boost for their banelings. One dilemma with the baneling throughout the development process was the display of team color. Since the explosive ability of the baneling yields green corrosive acid the predominant body color was green and completely overshadowing the small areas that were team colored. Identifying multiple zerg player ownership of banelings was problematic. Later an attempt was made to have the glowing bubbles on the baneling completely team color and even adjusting the explosion color to match various team colors used by players. This quickly made multiplayer look like a ridiculous Jackson Pollock painting whenever multi-colored banelings were seen exploding at the same time. After other various adjustments, such as just the front two bubbles being team colored, the decision was made to fade the team color along the body, with the forward bubbles being pure team color and the large rear bubble remaining green.2010, Starcraft 2: Zerg Baneling. Deviantart, accessed on 2011-07-20 Heart of the Swarm At BlizzCon 2011, banelings had the ability to move while burrowed.2011-10-21. Blizzard Cuts and Adds StarCraft II Units. IGN. Accessed 2011-10-21. This research was available when the player produces a hive.StarCraft Legacy staff. 2011-10-22. BlizzCon 2011 StarCraft II Multiplayer Panel. StarCraft Legacy. Accessed 2011-10-23. It cost 150 minerals and 150 vespene.The Rusher. 2011-10-26. A complete list of all multiplayer HOTS changes/additions, now that Blizzcon is over. Reddit. Accessed 2011-10-29. Data in the map editor exists for additional baneling upgrades in the campaign. One increases their base damage by 10; another reduces the time needed to mutate banelings from zerglings.Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm Map Editor. (Activision Blizzard) (in English). March 12, 2013 References Category: StarCraft II development